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Find out how your federal lease experience could improve with GSA’s new leasing support services

by Brianna Crandall — February 1, 2019 — The US General Services Administration (GSA) recently issued a draft solicitation for the next version of the GSA Leasing Support Services contract, GLS Plus. GLS Plus will emphasize taxpayer savings, improve the federal customer agency experience from requirements development through construction management, and leverage private sector expertise on an even broader scale than the current GLS contract. GSA will assess broker performance under GLS Plus based upon achievement of desired outcomes for each lease acquisition project.

GLS Plus maintains the core requirements of the current GLS scope of work, but has expanded to include additional services to increase the government’s ability to successfully execute leasing projects. The highlights of GLS Plus include earlier customer engagement, increased pre- and post-lease award services, and the introduction of time- and cost-saving technologies.

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GSA intends to increase the use of brokers under GLS Plus with enhanced pre- and post-award services and integrating new technologies — such as virtual market tours and analytical tools — which promote cost-saving real estate solutions. The overarching goal with GLS Plus is to more closely align broker performance with GSA’s strategic objective of saving money through real estate. Broker performance expectations begin with aggressive customer planning efforts, closer adherence to project schedules and costs, and continued opportunities for small businesses.

GLS Plus by the numbers (five-year outlook):

Estimated rent credits to tenant agencies — $129 million

Estimated square feet of all task orders — 33 million square feet

Estimated gross commissions — $368 million

While the broker commission structure is similar to GLS, there will no longer be a best value commission tied to achieving below-market rental rates under the GLS Plus contract. Instead, there will be an increased focus on awarding task orders to brokers that demonstrate project outcomes aligning with the goals established for individual transactions, especially on high-value projects.

We want a new contract to improve our capacity and attract the best talent for high value projects. That is how we achieve cost savings for the taxpayer.

GSA Assistant Commissioner for Leasing Allison Azevedo added:

GLS Plus is designed to improve GSA’s ability to efficiently and effectively replace its inventory of expiring leases on time and avoid costly lease extensions. Feedback from industry real estate professionals suggests there are greater opportunities to leverage private-sector practices that will allow us to achieve increased real estate savings. GLS Plus incorporates many of those proven private-sector practices.”

The draft solicitation, now closed to public comment, can be viewed on FedBizOpps. Enhancements proposed for GLS Plus can be viewed in this fact sheet.